LIC's Laughing Devil Comedy Club Up For Sale

The owners of a popular Long Island City comedy club are putting the establishment up for sale, but hope a potential buyer will keep the space open as spot for laughs.

Steve Hofstetter and Jacob Morvay, co-owners of The Laughing Devil at 47-38 Vernon Blvd., said they decided to sell because their busy schedules have made it difficult to keep running the venue: Hofstetter recently moved to Los Angeles for a new job and Morvay has an infant at home.

"Our schedules have been drastically changed since we opened the club," Hofstetter said. "As much as it hurt — it was a difficult decision — but both of us kind of needed to move on."

The two opened the Laughing Devil in December of 2011, with the goal of hosting shows every night of the week. The club, which has a full-service bar, regularly drew professional touring comics and organized an annual comedy festival that it started in 2012.

The club, along with nearby Creek and the Cave on Jackson Avenue, is part of burgeoning comedy scene in Hunters Point which has drawn big name comics in recent years.

Hofstetter said there are other improv and theater houses in Queens, but the Laughing Devil is one of the few full-fledged comedy clubs.

"It’s the only full-time comedy club in any of the outer boroughs," he said.

The Laughing Devil will continue to operate as usual until it's sold, Hofstetter said, and they're hoping whoever buys it will keep running it as a venue for comics.

"Personally, I'm a comic, and I would like it to stay a comedy club," he said.

DNAinfo is New York's leading neighborhood news source. We deliver up-to-the-minute reports on entertainment, education, politics, crime, sports, and dining. Our award-winning journalists find the stories - big or small - that matter most to New Yorkers.